Joe Root says England Test captaincy had begun to have 'unhealthy effect' on him
Joe Root to Sky Sports: "I couldn't leave the captaincy in the car or at the cricket ground. It wasn't fair on myself or my family and I want to enjoy my cricket. It's a role that needs so much energy and you can see that within Ben Stokes."
Sunday 5 June 2022 15:37, UK
Joe Root says the England captaincy had begun to have an "unhealthy effect" on him before he stood down from the role in April.
Root, 31, was speaking after his unbeaten 115 steered England to a five-wicket victory over New Zealand in the first LV= Insurance Test at Lord's.
England's successful chase of 277 ensured a positive start to Ben Stokes' tenure as captain with the team having won just one of their previous 17 games under Root amid a period of batting collapses, Covid-19 restrictions and rest and rotation.
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Root told Sky Sports: "It was tough to step down as captain but I'd thrown everything at it, every bit of myself into it and it had started to have an unhealthy effect on the rest of my life.
"I couldn't leave it in the car or at the cricket ground. It wasn't fair on myself or my family and I want to enjoy my cricket. It's a role that needs so much energy and you can see that within Ben."
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Root: It was time for someone else to lead England
Speaking later on to reporters, Root said: "I had thrown everything at it [captaincy] and I was determined to help turn this team around. But I realised over that time at home that it would have to be in a different way.
"I'm very excited to do that now, to do everything I can to help Ben turn this team around and make it the force it should and can be."
Root led England in a record 64 Test matches during his five-year stint in charge, winning 27 games, losing 26 and drawing 11.
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"I'll do anything I can to help England win Test matches and be a side people enjoy watching and can be proud of.
"It got to the stage where it was time for someone else to lead. I threw absolutely everything at the role. I'm proud of the way that I tried to do that."
Stokes: Root the man for the big occasion
England's new skipper Stokes spoke of his joy at getting his tenure off to a winning start, while also managing to single out his great friend Root for praise.
"Winning games is always special, particularly for England, and this was a great day," Stokes said.
"It was fantastic for me to see a very close friend walk off after leading the team to victory. Joe and I are very close, we're not just work colleagues.
"To see him walk off there, leading the team to victory, seeing the emotion of pure joy and happiness to win a game for England in his first game after stepping down as captain was amazing.
"There is never any doubt of Joe stepping up on the big occasions."
There was mutual appreciation from Root, whose 26th career century saw him join Sir Alastair Cook in an exclusive group of just two Englishman to pass 10,000 Test runs.
Root said he owed several of his most memorable wins as captain to Stokes and told reporters: "It's my turn now.
"That's a great motivator for me moving forward," he added. "With the amount of amazing things Ben did for this team under my leadership, it's a great opportunity for me in the next phase of my career to do that for him. I'm not sure I'll be able to do some of the things he has done but I can certainly try."
Can Root break Tendulkar's Test runs record?
Former Australia captain Mark Taylor believes Root can surpass Indian great Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 15,921 Test runs
Root became the 14th player to 10,000 runs in the format during his Lord's hundred, achieving the feat at 31 years and 157 days.
Taylor told Sky Sports: "Root has minimum five years left in him, so I think Tendulkar's record is very achievable.
"He is batting as well as I have ever seen him bat over the last 18 months to two years.
"He is in the prime of his career, so there is 15,000 runs-plus for him if he stays healthy."
Mel Jones feels that "maybe 16 or 17,000" Test runs is attainable for Root now he no longer has the pressures of captaincy to deal with.
Watch day one of the second LV= Insurance Test between England and New Zealand, at Trent Bridge, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Friday.
